MotoGP: Lorenzo Enjoys First Front Row Start Of 2014 Season

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo scored his first front row start of the season Saturday, edging out Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa to qualify second for the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix.

The two-time World Champion opted for a softer rear tire late in the 15-minute session, which helped him jump up to second with a 1:38.425. However, Lorenzo was no match for pole-winner Marc Marquez. The defending World Champion led all four practice sessions before capturing the top spot in qualifying with a 1:37.683.

Despite trailing Marquez by 0.7s, Lorenzo was pleased with the result and was especially happy with the improvements made by his Yamaha squad.

“We are trying to solve every challenge we can to be as competitive as possible,” said Lorenzo. “Today we made a small modification before the qualifying practice that proved to be good.

“It was better entering the corner and also gave us more traction so I could be a bit faster. I pushed at the maximum with the soft tyre to make a fast lap time and was able to make it. We are trying our best to be as competitive as possible and take the maximum so we are satisfied with the result.”

After crashing out of the season opener and jumping the start in Austin, Lorenzo finds himself down in 16th in the series standings – 44 points behind leader Marquez.